


Something Right

by kiaella_v



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Bonding, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Multi, Other, Slow Burn, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 21:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7455264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiaella_v/pseuds/kiaella_v
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith and Lance's competitive rivalry gets out of hand, leaving the Blue Lion heavily damaged and out of commission. A distress signal from a nearby planet leads Shiro, Lance, and Keith to rescue a small village. </p>
<p>Shiro hopes to teach the two the value of teamwork but nothing ever goes as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy.

“LANCE!” Shiro’s voice crackled over the comm. Lance could feel the weight of his disappointment and sagged back in his seat, preparing for a lecture.

He rubbed at his neck, feeling the effects of the whiplash settling in his muscles. He ignored the pounding in his head and the general ache in his body.

“Lance, is your comm functional?” Lance flipped the switch. “I’m here”. 

“WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?!” Pidge screeched. Lance winced at the decibel level. It reminded him of when his sister’s got pissed at him. Honestly, how did he miss that fact that Pidge was a girl? 

He really was an idiot. 

“It’s obvious that he was wasn’t….thinking, that is” Hunk chimed in, hesitantly. 

“Thanks for the back up there, Hunk” thought Lance glumly. 

“Nice going there, Cargo Pilot.” Keith’s words stung, Lance felt the hurt and quickly transferred the feeling to anger. Anger was definitely easier to deal with. 

“Shut up, Mullet moron. If you hadn’t-” he began. 

“ENOUGH! All of you! Lance, are you injured?” Shiro broke in. Lance felt like he deserved every bit of the pain he felt now. Self induced punishment, he thought grimly and knowing that Shiro was in no mood for jokes he kept his answer simple. 

“I’m fine. Blue’s controls are toasted though.” He was floating without power.

“Hunk! Pidge! You two take Lance back to the castle. Keith, with me. We will finish recon of this area before heading back. Allura needs this data today.” His tone left no room for argument. 

Everyone rushed to do as told. Lance pulled on the dead controls trying to get a reaction from Blue. “Sorry, Blue” he muttered patting the control board. 

He knew that this particular fuck up was his own to blame. His damn competitive nature and desire to be better than the stupidly talented Keith. 

Lance felt the jolt as the cables from Hunk and Pidge’s Lion’s connected with his own. “So Captain Dumbass, did we learn a lesson today?” Pidge questioned. Lance bit his lip to keep from responding, he knew Shiro was still on this comm line. 

“Oh Pidge, lay off him”. Good Ol’ Hunk. 

“Yeah, well you are I are the ones who get to spend the rest of god knows how long fixing Blue with Coran.” Pidge muttered. That was true. Lance could complete basic maintenance on Blue but the amount of damage from today would require some true engineering to fix. 

Lance flipped off the comm channel and leaned back in his chair. He watch the stars fly by as the other two dragged him back to the castle. 

Allura was building new maps of every region they visited. The castle maps were 10,000 years out of date after all. Coran, Hunk, and Pidge has developed these sensors that the young paladins could disperse while doing recon within a specific area that would sweep the area and build a detailed map of the solar system they were in. All which was very helpful in finding the location of certain Galran bases or outposts. They had accidently wandered into Galra territory one to many times. 

If a Galra ship got to close to it, the small device would self-destruct. Once it had completed its task it would self-destruct. 

Handy, dandy, little bombs. 

Surprisingly, Hunk had been the one to think of that. He pulled the idea from the bomb-rover incident that had almost killed Lance. His reasoning was they couldn’t afford to have someone follow these devices back to the ship. 

Lance’s fuck up came during the most recent outing they were currently on. They were having particular trouble with this area because of a huge asteroid belt blocking the information from returning to the ship. Some sort of magnetic interference as Coran had put it. 

Keith and Lance been assigned to a similar area. Keith had decided the quickest way to the other side was through and not around. A few choice words from Keith and Lance had followed him right into the field. 

These asteroids were not statically floating in space as the two had originally thought. The external area was much more calm and easy to navigate, but the further in they went, the more chaotic the rocks moved. Slamming and knocking into each other in continuous unpredictable movements and breaking off in smaller chunks every time they collided, it was how the belt was always growing. 

Keith maneuvered skillfully through the space, taking a second to tell Lance to go back. Keith, in that moment, had not been trying to challenge the Blue pilot. He, himself, had genuinely been struggling to get through. He was in far to deep to turn back quickly but Lance with his late start, however, could easily get out and go around. 

Logically, that was the best choice of action but when Lance gets heated and sees what he takes as a challenge from his loudly proclaimed rival, logic and reason all but go out the window. 

The moment Keith had told him to back, Lance made a quick decision to do the opposite and to fly forward. He was going to get ahead and beat Keith to the other side…or so he thought. The speed at which the rocks moved towards the center was 30x fasted that the area he had left Keith behind in. Lance couldn’t adjust for the change fast enough, falling into a reactionary response rather than calculating a path through. 

The last thing Lance knew before the controls went dead was a asteroid the size of a house hit another much smaller asteroid in front of him, changing its course to come barreling straight towards him. Trapped on all sides by asteroids, Lance had sufficiently corned himself. He closed his eyes and braced for impact. His forward shields failed and from there he became a like a lion shaped pinball.

Keith had managed to shoot the last few asteroids on the edge of the belt that would have sent Lance spiraling right back in to the game. Blue floated through the debris into the dark of space. 

He managed to have a front row seat to Keith’s piloting at its finest. Lance’s actions had set off a frenzy in the field, and Keith managed to pull off some amazing moves flying out without so much as a scratch on his Lion. 

At some point during his pinballing adventure, Keith or Allura must have hailed Shiro and the others. Lance didn’t float far before the rest of his team surrounded him. 

And now here he sat, being towed back to base with his damaged Lion. 

 

Lance stood before Allura, Shiro and Coran. Shiro’s eyes disappointed and Allura’s angry. The constant twitching of his mustache gave away Coran’s irritation. 

The three remaining pilots stood behind him. When one of them fucked up, they all got the lecture, learning from each other’s mistakes or something like that. 

Shiro kept his eyes trained on Lance as he spoke, “Hunk, damage report”. Hunk jumped. “Uh, Green, Red, Yellow, and Black Lions undamaged. Blue…damaged.” Lance knew Hunk was trying to limit the intensity of the talking to he was about be subjected to. Lance pulled his shoulders back and stood a bit taller. “ Detailed report of the damages, Pidge?” Pidge flinched this time. She squared herself, obviously pissed about the whole situation. 

Hunk shot her a pleading look, “Be gentle” it said. She gave him a slightly apologetic reply before turning her attention back to Shiro who’s eyes never left Lance. 

Lance suddenly understood why Shiro was made Captain at such a young age. The man could just command a room with his mere presence and make you squirm under his gaze. Something Lance was trying very hard not to do at the moment. 

“The Blue Lion sustained heavy body damage. Once the shield gave due to the blunt force of the external projectiles, Blue was subjected to the full force of magnetic field. This fried many internal components and explains the loss of main power to the control board.” Pidge clenched her fist. “We are very lucky that Blue was able to sustain Life Support Systems and the cabin did not depressurize at an accelerated rate.” 

Lance froze. He had no idea that his Lion had been that heavily damaged. His girl did all she could to protect him. Allura uncrossed her arms. “Do you understand the weight of the damage you have caused Lance?” She asked. 

Lance felt the pressure behind his eyes grow ten fold as she yelled at him. He relished the pain. He deserved it. Shiro’s gaze bore into him. 

“How long until repairs are complete, Hunk?” Shiro asked. Lance almost flinched. Hunk hesitated. “Hunk!” Shiro commanded. “Three weeks with the Lion’s natural healing abilities…at best.” 

Allura placed a hand to her head. “Floating in somewhat unknown space without the ability form Voltron for three weeks. We will have our work cut out for us.” She sighed. 

“Lance. Keith.” Keith started at the sound of his name. “This situation is a deliberate consequence of your actions. You both took unnecessary risk.” 

Keith stepped forward, angry. “Are you kidding me?! I told him to go back. It’s not my fault this idiot didn’t listen!” Shiro turned his gaze from Lance, for the first since the conversation began, to Keith. Keith stopped short under the gaze and averted his eyes. 

“You had every intention of continuing through the field, even if Lance had gone back. You know how Lance is. You also are just as at fault for jeopardizing your Lion for no reason.” 

Keith felt his blood boiling. “I knew I could get through. He’s the one with the skill level of a cargo pilot. He should have known better.” Shiro’s expression was unreadable.

Lance remained uncharacteristically silent. It was freaking Hunk out. This whole thing was making his stomach hurt. Pidge knew that Shiro needed to drive home the impact that this dumb rivalry could have. She hoped these idiots would get it. Lance was lucky to be alive. If the cabin had depressurized at the rate he was falling, the math making Pidge sick. Granted, this was a freak accident. Lance had naturally managed to find a way to effectively damage his Lion to by-pass all the fail-safes that Pidge had installed. 

Allura looked on. It was at times like this that she was acutely reminded of the age of these young Paladins. Children. They were just children. She heaved a sigh and chanced a glance at Shiro. His hands clasped fast behind his back, gripping so tightly the knuckles were white. As she took in his schooled expression, “He is a true commander,” she thought some of the tension leaving her. If anyone could lead this unruly bunch and turn them into fine paladins it was he. 

Keith’s words stung. Cargo Pilot. Skilled. Should have known better. “That’s right,” thought Lance bitterly. “I should have known my fucking place.” 

“Keith, this a team. We are responsible for each other. Lance needs to have ownership of his actions. Just as you do. You made a mistake today as well.” Keith hung his head, knowing that Shiro’s words were true. It was a bitter pill to swallow. 

Finally, Shiro turned back to Lance. “What do you have to say for yourself?”. Lance was so desperately uncomfortable in this moment he wanted nothing more that to revert to humor to break the tension. 

He swallowed, “I did make a mistake. We should have simply gone around on the path that Coran gave us.” He ground his teeth, refusing to give into Keith’s harsh criticism. “I should have been more aware of my surrounding and prevented the damage to Blue.” He took a deep breath turned to look back at Hunk and Pidge, “I’m sorry for the extra time it will take to do repairs.” The two both nodded somewhat shocked at Lance’s seriousness. 

Lance felt his vision swim and blinked away the dizziness. He bowed his head. “Sorry Shiro.” 

Shiro’s shoulders relaxed. “Your apology is accepted, however, know that I am disappointed in both you and Keith. You both will receive your punishments tomorrow after I discuss with Allura and Coran.” He turned to the rest. “For now, everyone should rest until dinner.” 

The four young paladins all but fled the room. 

Keith and Lance shared an ugly look in the hall after the doors had closed behind them. Hunk and Pidge knew better than to say anything. Keith broke eye contact first, making his way towards the training deck. No doubt to go blow off steam. Lance turned on his heel, not saying a word to the other two, and headed towards the sleeping quarters. 

“That went…well,” gulped Hunk, hunched over rubbing his stomach. “Puke later,” said Pidge slapping him on the shoulder. “We have three weeks of repairs to get started on.” She started down towards the hanger. 

Lance couldn’t get the door to his room open fast enough, hand clasped firmly over his mouth, he rushed into his private bathroom. His knees jolted with pain and he all but threw himself down and hung his head over the toilet, everything from his last goo meal purging from his body. 

His body hurt. His head hurt. His pride hurt. The team’s disappointment (minus Keith’s) hurt. Everything hurt. Everything FUCKING hurt. He threw up again. 

Keith knocked down another droid. “Start simulation level three,” he shouted, running at the gladiator before it even hit the ground. Lance was always chasing after him, causing him more trouble than he was worth. The most frustrating thing was Keith couldn’t understand this rivalry. He never wanted Lance to hate him. He naturally reacted now because he had no idea how to deal with the sarcastic Blue pilot. The guy just got under his skin. Stupid Lance. 

 

Hunk entered the dining area, scratching the back of his head. “Lance said he doesn’t want to eat.” Coran nodded, “We should leave him be, after today, he probably wants to be alone.”

Keith stabbed his food with more force that needed. Shiro took note and sighed. Pidge and Hunk gathered their dinner to eat in the Hanger. Coran took his and Allura’s to the main control room, where the princess was pouring over the data gathered and building the map of this area. 

Shiro and Keith were left alone, the younger stabbing at his food and pushing it around his plate. Shiro ate in silence, waiting to see if Keith would speak first. The boy pushed his plate away and stood. “I’m going to go train.” Shiro glanced over. 

“Let’s talk Keith.” Keith gave him a look that said he wanted to do anything but talk to Shiro right now. Shiro patted the table and Keith caved, sitting back down. 

Keith remained silent. Shiro knew the kid was going to make this difficult. “I get that you’re mad, but do you understand why you’re getting disciplined along side Lance?” he asked. Keith shook his head. “Nothing happened to me.” He muttered, hiding his face in his arms on the table. 

“This time.” followed Shiro. Keith looked up. 

“Nothing happened this time. You need to learn to think through your actions just as much as Lance does. You have a raw talent that you fall back on too often. You are going to get burned by that thinking Keith, and I want you to understand what could happen before something does.” He finished. 

Keith took his words to heart. He did have a tendency to just…act. He was a damn good pilot but he could see Shiro’s point. 

“You are on a team now, you and Lance need to take some time and really understand what that means.” Keith rolled his eyes. The teamwork, bonding thing again.

Shiro placed his plate in the disposal and left. Keith sighed. He had a lot to think about and maybe, just maybe, he should try…talking to Lance. 

 

Lance had crawled out of his bathroom and some how found the strength to get in his bed. He stared out the window into the black inkiness of space, willing the spinning in his head to stop. Hunk had come by earlier to ask him to come to dinner. 

He didn’t think he could stomach anything, let alone get up and walk to the dinning hall without anyone being none the wiser. He just reminded himself, it would be worse if the other knew. 

It would just be another stack on the pile of shit he got himself into today. The headache, the bruising on his chest, Lance willed himself to shake the anxiety. This was nothing a little nap couldn’t solve. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning, Lance had a hard time waking up. He was a bit confused on where he was, yesterday’s events a bit fuzzy. It all slowly came back to him. He knew he needed to get up. He was still nauseous and the thought of breakfast almost sent him back to the toilet but he felt loads better than yesterday. He went to roll out of bed but stopped short at the pain in his chest. Fuck. He breathed in and out very slowly. Did he bust a rib or two? 

Probably. 

Pinballing around space would do that to you. He slowly sat up, “Come on, man the fuck up.” He muttered to himself. 

While getting dressed, he refused to look at the growing bruise on his side and abdomen. He opened the door, and jumped back screaming. His ribs not liking that one bit. A wobbly, dark bag-eyed, Hunk stood before him, arm poised to knock. Hunk smiled, reaction time clearly delayed due to the obviously sleep depravation. 

“His fault,” thought Lance guilty. 

“Morning!” Hunk said. “Hungry?” Lance felt his guilt increase Hunk was worried because Lance hadn’t eaten dinner the night before. Hunk was a great friend. 

Lance let his carefully crafted smile slip over his face. “Hunk my man, I am starved and dying to eat one your creations.” He threw an arm around the big man’s frame. Hunk relaxed, the stress oozing from his body like freshly dispersed goo from the kitchen. 

“Oh, I didn’t cook. Coran took over while me and Pidge have been working on Blue.” Hunk told him as they made their way to the kitchen. “Great,” thought Lance. No one would question him eating one or two bites of Coran’s cooking. He knew he could manage that at least. The pounding in the back of his head and the ache in his side a constant reminder of yesterday. 

They ran into Keith at a fork in the hallway. Lance felt the rage from yesterday bubble up. Keith starred him down. Hunk looked back and forth between the two; worried a fight was about to break out, when Keith surprised them. “Good Morning.” He said and continued on his way. 

Lance and Hunk turned to each other. Hunk shrugged. “It’s too early to deal with you two,” he said. 

Lance entered the kitchen just as Allura shrieked. Pidge, in her sleep-deprived state, had poured her breakfast all over Allura’s front. Pidge, clearly out of it, burst into laughter. Hunk followed suit. Both were in near hysterics. 

Allura wiped the goo off her dress the best she could. “You two!” she pointed at Hunk and Pidge. “BED! NOW!” 

Pidge retreated like a caged animal her plate held up before her like a shield. “NEVER! We have to much to do.” Allura moved to block the exit. Pidge’s eyes were wide and slightly manic smile on her face. The telltale signs she had been up all night. 

Hunk scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder. “We keep it up at this rate and we are bound to make error’s Pidge.” Hunk started making his way to the door. Pidge struggled in his hold. “Do you want to put Lance back in Blue if we make an error in our repairs.” She went lax. “Nooooooo…..” her voice fading as they left.  
Allura huffed in exasperation. “My goodness, those two!” she noticed Lance leaning up against the wall. Keith was already eating his breakfast. 

“Shall I make you a plate, Lance?” called Coran from the dispenser. Lance shook his head and slowly started to step back towards the door. “Nooope, pass…I, uh, gotta find Shiro and get my punishment.” Allura was surprised. “How very mature of you Lance.” 

“Yeaaaah, turning over a new leaf and all that jazz.” He gave a weak smile. Allura gave him a confused look in return. “I was not aware that human’s had leaves?” she questioned. “Where are these said leaves on your body?” she advanced forward looking him over.  
Keith snorted into his breakfast. 

“I don’t. It’s a figure of speak, Princess.” Allura looked more puzzled at his explanation. Keith gave his empty plate to Coran. Lance had managed to escape Allura and make it to the door. 

“Come on Mullet Head.” He called. Keith took a breath and didn’t rise to the bait. 

“Shiro is waiting for you both in the training area,” called Coran. Keith waved over his should as the doors closed. 

The two boys made their way down the halls in silence. Lance tried not to breathe too deeply and focused on controlling his growing anger at Keith’s apparent indifference towards him. It was just like the attitude from the day they had rescued Shiro, and Keith had no idea who Lance was. 

Keith was internally struggling with what to say. He wanted to do right by Shiro and understand this idiot’s issue with him. He would never admit it to anyone but he really wanted to know why Lance hated him because deep down he wanted to like Lance. Anytime these thoughts would rise in his mind, Keith would force them back down as soon as Lance would turn his rivalry persona on him. 

He glanced at Lance and the other made a face and stuck his tongue out at him. Keith grit his teeth and walked faster towards the training room. 

“Sorry Shiro. I can’t with this moron.” Keith didn’t even notice Lance didn’t try and keep pace with his accelerated steps. 

 

Lance thanked every God and Fate in the extended known Universe that Shiro’s idea of punishment for them was meditation. The three of them sat in a circle, legs crossed and silent. Lance cracked an eye seeing both Shiro and Keith were taking this seriously. Lance couldn’t breathe deeply, so he couldn’t really relax but this beat any physical training by miles in his book. 

However, being left to reflect in his own thoughts was kind of the last thing Lance wanted to do as well. He hated being faced with his own faults and weakness’s. He saw Keith re-adjust himself and couldn’t help but think, “Stupid Keith”. 

He stopped at the thought and closed his eyes. No, what was he? Five? Lance took a rare moment to actually reflect. It wasn’t Keith he hated. Deep down he knew that. Lance knew he really, at his core, hated himself and his own inadequacies, and it was easier to hate Keith for always blatantly shoving his own failures back in his face by just being Keith. Keith was naturally gifted and Lance was…not. 

Keith’s voice rang in his head, “He’s the one with the skill level of a cargo pilot.” Lance allowed that to sink it. It was true. He…knew he wasn’t as good. That wasn’t…Keith’s fault. It was his own. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a blaring alarm. His eyes shot open. Keith and Shiro were already on their feet. 

“What is it, Allura?” called Shiro. 

“We’ve received a distress signal from a nearby planet.” She replied over the intercom. “Please come to the control room.” The alarm faded. 

“Oh, Pidge and Hunk, GO BACK TO SLEEP!” 

A few minutes later found all of them in the control room, even Hunk and Pidge, ignoring Allura’s instruction to return to sleep. Pidge hugged a pillow to her chest. “We gotta know what’s going on,” is all she said. 

Coran pulled up a video on the comm. “It looks like a small village on this planet, Huranx, has a bit of a Raider problem and are requesting assistance.” 

“Raider?” asked Pidge. 

“Raiders will come through and reap supplies and things from planets not yet under Galra control or in very laxly patrolled sectors such as this one.” He replied.

“So,” Shiro began. “We shouldn’t use the Lions for this. We wouldn’t want to alert Galra to our location.” 

“From the data I was able to collect from the message. It seems like a relatively small crew of miscreants causing trouble.” Coran pulled up the coordinates to the planet. “We are only about about 1000 ticks away, or a 3, uh, hours? I conclude that the three of you should be able to handle it.” He finished. 

“What do you think, Shiro?” asked Allura. Shiro, hand to his chin in a thoughtful way, concluded that his was a much more effective way to teach teamwork and team bonding to Keith and Lance than mediating on their actions and some training. 

“Suit up boys, we have a village to rescue.” 

The dull throb in the back of his head almost made Lance say something. He opened his mouth to confess right then when Keith suddenly turned to him. “Maybe, we can do something right for once.” Lance narrowed his eyes at the remark and stalked off to get ready. Keith slumped at Lance’s reaction. Seriously, what did he have to do with this guy. 

Hunk face palmed. He understood the meaning behind Keith’s words. Lance had taken them as a challenge when Keith had offered them as the most broken olive branch Hunk had ever seen. 

Pidge had leaned against Hunk at some point and was dozing again. He knew Shiro would sort them out; he picked up Pidge and went to deposit her back in her room. They needed a bit longer of a nap before they got back to work repairing Blue. 

 

Lance gingerly slipped on his chest plate, the squeeze of the material did nothing for him as his gasped for breath. He released the air out slowly. 

No more being useless. 

This was a great mission to show he could be just as useful as Keith. A small piece of him was tugging at his reasoning. He shouldn’t do this. He was in no shape to going to rescue a village from the equivalent of space pirates. 

Then Keith’s most recent barb echoed in his head, “Maybe, we can do something right for once.”

Yeah, Lance was going to do something right.


	2. We're goin' down!

Meanwhile, Keith was fuming. The more he thought about Lance and his shitty attitude, the more frustrated he became. When he almost broke a small container of healing goo as he shoved it into his pack, he knew he needed to calm down. 

Plopping down in the middle of his room, he tried to meditate. 

Clear the mind. Clear the mind…Lance’s annoying face. Clear the – more Lance.

“Augh!” Keith rubbed his head, sighing in defeat. 

He would just have to accept the situation. 

Maybe they could…bond on this mission?

At least Shiro would be there. 

 

“What do you mean you aren’t coming?!” Lance exclaimed. Shiro held up a placating hand. 

“I will be coming down eventually. Your orders are going to find the village, start recon, and develop relations with the locals. Allura, Coran, and I will be developing a plan of attack. From the communication it seems as though the Raiders are off world at the moment.” 

“Why don’t we just wait for you to do that?” asked Keith. 

“We don’t know the situation on the ground. The distress signal has been going for a good while…it is hard to develop an effective strategy with limited knowledge of the area.” Allura explained. “Unless,” she hesitated, looking to Shiro a bit concerned, “You both believe yourselves incapable of this task without Shiro’s guidance?” 

Keith and Lance bristled at the suggestion. 

“We are more than capable,” said Keith.

“Yeah, Princess, it’s not like we’re useless.” said Lance offhandedly. Keith took note to the cool edge to Lance’s tone. 

Yesterday was still weighing on him, or so it seemed. Keith shook it off, “Not my problem,” he thought and buried the concern trying to worm its way into his subconscious. 

Allura practically glowed, “Excellent, this is a fine example of you both becoming more mature and independent Paladin’s. The Paladin’s of old would often conduct missions like this as Defenders of Peace in the Universe.”

“Exactly Princess!” began Coran. “In the 9th Qazdack of the Unidan period, the Paladin’s conducted-”

Lance and Keith froze knowing full well how long a Coran history lesson could go. 

“What’s that Pidge?!” Lance called loudly holding is hand to his helmet. “The ship is ready to go?” he shot Keith a look. 

“Oh..Oh!” he mimicked the motion. “Yes…Pidge.” He took a step backwards towards the door. “We’re on our way,” Lance said, hooking an arm around Keith’s neck, dragging him out into the hall. 

Coran stopped with his story and waved, “Safe journey young ones!” he called. Shiro and Allura shared an exasperated look just as the doors closed. 

“Um, the shuttle IS almost ready,” Pidge cackled over the comm. “You can come wait down here.” 

“Coran got talking about Paladin history again?” asked Hunk. 

“Yes!” Keith and Lance replied in unison. They shared a quick amused look. The two of them couldn’t agree on much but sitting through a Coran history lecture was one thing neither wanted to experience again. 

 

The small ship had enough room for the two of them and the limited supplies they were bringing along. Keith slid into the pilot’s chair. 

Lance stood arms wide, “We aren’t even going to – I don’t know, FLIP A COIN? Rock, Paper, I bash your head in?” he asked. He lowered them gently as the quick pull of the motion sent mini shock wave across his side. 

Keith starred at him confused. “What?” 

Lance turned an interesting shade of red. “WHAT IF I WANT TO PILOT, YOU MORON?!” 

Keith made a silent “Oh” and climbed out. Lance tapped his foot impatiently, arms crossed, trying to fold in as the pain slowly subsided. Hunk and Pidge had wandered over to see what they could possibly be going on about now. 

“Pidge, be the judge.” Keith said. 

“Why can’t I be the judge?” asked Hunk. 

“Biased interest,” he replied, stepping back into a fighting stance. 

“I resent that! I can be fair.” Hunk pouted. 

Lance closed his fist. “I never lose Rock, Paper, Scissors. I am the master.”

Best of three later, and Keith was back in the pilot chair running initial prep checks for takeoff. Lance was slumped down in the passenger seat. 

“Don’t be a sore loser.” Pidge flicked his forehead. “Keith won fair and square.” 

“All systems are good to go Hunk!” called Keith, and Lance slouched lower. 

 

As Keith and Lance waited for permission to launch, Keith found he couldn’t sit still. 

Finally Lance caved, “Yo jitter bug, what’s crawled up your pant leg?”

Keith mulled over whether or not he should actually share with Lance. 

Then remembering Shiro’s talk and his own decision to at least TRY with Lance made him begrudgingly share, “I just…don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Allura opened the bay doors. “Good luck you two. Report back soon!” 

Lance rubbed his sore side. He didn’t know how if he felt all that great about this mission either.

 

“Well, there they go.” Said Allura as she watched them depart from the Castle. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Shiro.

“This is a great exercise to increase the bond between the two of them,” she explained. “The Green and Red Paladin’s of the Articis period in the 14th Antlar had a similar story, you see…” Shiro looked back out into space. 

Coran was bad, but Allura and her history lessons were way worse and Shiro had no means of escape. 

 

Keith navigated them towards the atmosphere and began the entry. As they descended below the clouds, that “bad” feeling nagged at him again. 

Something was off. 

“Lance,” he said, pulling up the external sensory system. He swiped it over to Lance’s display. “Something’s not right. Run a check of the area,” he said. 

Lance grumbled something about orders and Keith giving them but set to the task. 

There was nothing that Lance could see. Everything was normal. Repeating normal readings… almost too normal. Then, there was blip in the data fluctuation. He narrowed the search down. There! The data spiked and faded. 

Lance’s eyes went wide. “Evasive maneuvers. Incoming at our 6.” he shouted. Keith forced the controls down in a quick spiral. Lance hailed the Castle. “CORAN!” he yelled. Static on the feed came as the response. 

“Fuck.” Lance thought. 

“Signal is jammed.” He relayed to Keith. 

Lance pounded at the controls. “Shiro. SHIRO?! Anyone?!” 

The sensor lit up again. “4 o’clock.” Keith forced them around. 

Pain bloomed behind Lance’s eyelids as his head smacked roughly against the headrest. 

An explosion rocked them as the projectile exploded to the right of the ship. “We need to land,” said Keith, flipping the landing controls. 

The alarm lit up Lance’s dash. “Directly under us and-” Keith swung the ship on to its side before Lance could finish his thought. 

The second missile destroyed the rear thrusters as it connected with the back of the ship, sending them in to a tailspin towards the ground. 

Alarms blaring and lights flashed all around them. Lance continued to try and hail the ship, “Hey, we’re going down!” Keith pulled with all his might on the controls trying to force the nose up. 

“SHIT! WE’RE GONNA CRASH!” Lance’s terrified message was the last Keith heard before impact. 

 

“Kei-” Keith felt like he was floating. “Keith!” why was he cold. “Keith! Wake up!” Keith opened his eyes, slowly. 

Water was up to his knees. Water? 

He felt someone tugging at his belt. His eyes followed the tan hand, to an arm, and up to a face. 

Lance. 

He let his head drop as he willed away the fuzziness. “No, no, no, no, you don’t Mr. Big Bad Rock Paper Scissors winner!” Lance shook him, finally freeing him from one half of the harness. 

_Crack._

Keith’s attention was drawn towards the source of the sound; he watched the glass crack and spider across the window. 

He took in two things at this moment:

His helmet was cracked and….

Lance wasn’t wearing one. 

Keith grabbed his arm. “Your helmet.” Lance was clearly surprised by the sudden life Keith displayed. “Put…on your…helmet. 

Lance looked over his shoulder and saw the state of the glass. He pulled with renewed effort on the remaining belt. 

Just as it gave way, so did the window. 

The air was forced from Keith’s lungs as Lance plowed into him by the wave of incoming water. The cockpit flooded in 10 seconds flat. Keith couldn’t get free. 

The water flowed in and began to fill in through his helmet, already rising to cover his mouth. 

It was so dark. 

The faded flashing of the cabin alarms created an eerie red glow. 

Strong arms wrapped around his middle, ripping him forward out of the seat. His legs had been stuck? He hadn’t noticed. He took his last breath as water flooded above his nose. He was pulled out into open water. 

Keith’s vision blurred, why weren’t they moving up. He…he couldn’t breathe. 

Air. He needed air. It felt like they were being sucked down. He choked on water as he tried to take a breath. 

“The ship…the suction…” was Keith’s final thought before it all faded to black. 

 

Lance was struggling on all his own. Keith became dead weight in arms; the lack of movement from the Red Pilot bothered him. He grew up around the Ocean; he knew to ride out the push and pull of powerful tides. 

His entire chest burned with pain. 

Up. Up. Up. 

Kick. Kick. Kick. 

He had to get them above water. 

He could do it. 

He wasn’t useless. 

He could save his teammate. 

He couldn’t let Keith die. 

He refused to. 

He didn’t hate him THAT much.

Just as his own lungs gave way and Lance sucked in a lungful of water, they broke the surface. Hacking, he ripped off Keith’s helmet. The water poured out. 

Floating with them flat on their back, Lance pounded a heavy fist down on Keith’s chest. 

“Breathe, you idiot, ” Lance wheezed. Keith coughed up the slight bit of water he had inhaled. “There is it. I knew even you weren’t dumb enough to forget how to breathe,” he said patting Keith’s chest plate. Four years as a Life Guard and finally a good use for all those hot summers at the beach. 

Adrenaline fueling him, Lance searched the horizon and saw shore not far off. Keith was still clearly out of it. He tried to move and arms to help. “Just float.” Lance swam as quietly as he could to the shore. The body of water was coated with a light layer of fog that Lance used to his full advantage. 

Keith was fully aware by the time they hit the sand. Crawling out of the water, they dragged each other toward the tree line for cover. 

Keith glanced over his shoulder and saw 3 ships scanning the water where the ship went down. He noted they were not Galra. 

“A few miscreants, Coran?” he thought as he followed Lance into the brush.


	3. The Hunt Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being hunted. 
> 
> Keith has communication issues.

Keith took the lead quickly, keeping low and hurrying through the dead looking forest in search of cover. Visibility was low as the fog allowed him to see maybe 25 yards on all sides. 

Keith coughed lightly. His throat burning slightly from hacking up inhaled water. 

Lance had saved his life. He had completely ignored his own safety and risked drowning in order to save Keith and Keith wasn’t sure how he felt about that. 

He should thank Lance. 

Yeah. That was a good idea. 

Remember, he was TRYING.

He would do it real casual like, almost an afterthought. That should keep Lance from making fun of him. 

Like, “Oh yeah, Thanks.” 

Keith looked back to do just that and promptly ate shit from tripping on a tree root. 

He really fucking sucked at this communication thing. 

Suddenly, Lance was on top of him, breathing harshly. 

“Lance. Get off-”

“Shhhh,” Lance hissed back. He rolled over pulling Keith with him into some black leaved brush and pointed up. 

That’s when he heard it. The low rumble and whistle of an aircraft hovering. They could hear it but they couldn’t see it. Fog worked both ways.

One thing was for sure. 

They were being hunted.

Fucking. 

Great. 

Keith activated his Bayard and lay as still as he could. 

 

Lance was obviously trying to control his breathing and quiet down but he couldn’t seem to catch his breath. He was gasping and clutching at his side. 

While Mission: Rescue the Mullet had been successful. Operation: Pretend to Be Fine was failing. 

Miserably. 

The rational part of his brain that he had ignored back on the ship was chiming in with a helpful, “Hindsight’s a reallllll bitch, huh?” 

His head was pounding. His side was pure fire, spiking with every intake of air. 

Keith was lying on his stomach, ready to spring from the brush. Lance rolled on to his back, that didn’t help his pain level very much. The whistle of air from the searching craft coming closer, Lance activated his Bayard and looked up through the scope. 

“Do you see them?” asked Keith catching on to Lance’s plan. 

The ship was small, one to two pilots max. Duel thrusters. One main laser canon mounted on below the front of the ship. He scanned nearby. No other ships were within sight but this was one was right on top of them.

They needed more of head start to out run these things, a chance to regroup. These ships had been on their tail since the two of them had crawled out of the water and bolted into the woods. Well, actually more like since they entered the damn atmosphere. 

“Well?” repeated Keith. Lance couldn’t believe it. Words. He was struggling with words. 

A first time for everything.

“I..” he wheezed. “..Plan.” His chest heaved with the effort of each word. He saw the alarm on Keith’s face as he spoke. The ship stopped directly over them. 

Shit. 

There goes the hiding option. 

“Trust…” Lance took aim. 

“Lance, I-” and fired. 

The blue beam struck the left thruster. 

The aircraft spun in a circular fashion, unable to maintain control. It didn’t explode like Lance had hoped but it would have to do. 

Ding. Ding. Ding. Lance wins the Silver Medal. 

“Go…” he huffed in Keith’s ear and he rolled to his feet. Keith was hot on his heels, the two young pilots fled in the opposite direction of the ship. Keith pulled ahead and cleared a path by hacking down anything in their way. 

 

“Pull it together. Pull it together. You are fine.” Lance was a firm believer in if you tell yourself something enough; you eventually buy into the mentality. 

He was fine. He was fine. And right now he needed to run. 

 

Shiro was zoning out. Allura had moved on to recount another story but he had no idea how they had gotten to the history of the Altean equivalent of Tax Law. 

“Princess?” Coran called over the intercom. “Yes!” she answered. 

Shiro stood and slowly inched his way towards the door. He was a very patient man, however; even he could only take so much. 

“We may have a tiniest weensy little problem.” 

Shiro sighed. “Did those two start fighting already?” he asked. Allura slumped at the thought. Those boys had barely left, couldn’t they make it 1000 ticks without arguing. 

“It is about Lance and Keith, I lost contact with them once they entered the atmosphere. Would you please come to the control room?” Coran requested. 

 

Allura pulled up the readings the Castle was getting from the surface. 

“Well, as we knew prior, the atmosphere is suitable for human consumption. That was the last bit of information relayed to the Castle from the ship.” 

Coran pulled up another screen. “We can see here that the ship has landed on the surface but we can’t tell more than that. It seems this planet has a similar electromagnetic field to the asteroid belt we experienced before.” 

“Well, no communication? I’m sure they are alright and will figure out a way to get into contact once they reach the village!” Allura was nervous. Something wasn’t right. How was the distress signal able to broadcast but their communications were down. 

“Shiro, perhaps, we should cut their little bonding exercise short and devise a plan to get you down there as soon as possible. You know, simply to err on the side of caution.” 

Shiro gave her a worried smile. “Agreed.” 

 

“Here.” Keith reached behind him to pull Lance to the left. They had run right into the side of a craggy hill. Keith had found a small cave entrance. 

It was pitch black and cramped. Keith couldn’t fully stand without his head hitting the roof of the small cave. 

“It’s a low…” Keith tried to warn Lance but Lance was already on his knees crawling further in. They couldn’t go in very far before they hit the wall. 

Lance leaned against the wall and was taking slow breaths in and out. He lowered his head between his knees. 

Keith could understand. His body was beginning to ache and remind him, oh hey, by the way, remember the crashing into water and almost drowning thing.

They both needed a minute or thirty… 

Oh. Yeah. 

The thanking Lance thing.

“You didn’t have to do that.” 

Keith could see Lance’s head jerk upwards but it was too dark to see his face. 

“Wha…” asked Lance. 

“Save me. You didn’t have to save me.” Keith watch Lance’s shoulders tense. 

“Oh yeah, well then…how the hell…were you going to get out of that… one?” Lance questioned, a hint of anger in his voice.

“No, I-” This was not what Keith was trying to say. 

“I know the Great Keith doesn’t need anybody, especially… to rescue him.” 

That stung and the retort was out of Keith’s mouth before he could stop it. 

“Yeah, unlike you.”

Lance bristled, his throbbing head a driving reminder of being burden to his team.

Lance grabbed Keith collar and pulled him forward. Keith pulled back a fist, ready to fight. 

Suddenly, the whirling of a ship cut through the air. 

The two broke free of each other and pressed themselves up against the sides of the cave as much they could. 

Voices. 

They could hear voices. 

Scouts were searching the woods from them and it was only a matter of time until they were found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back, Bitches! Yes. Trash. I am ABSOLUTE TRASH....with a real job and grown up responsibilities. Kudos to anonymous on Tumblr who fed me guilt cookies to get something out.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm new to tumblr but come chat with me over there: http://kiaella-v.tumblr.com/


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